Hellboy: Stull
by Robert Sinclair
Summary: Agents of the BPRD Hellboy and and Liz Sherman are dispatched to Stull, Kansas to investigate a possible interdimensional portal.
1. Default Chapter

Hellboy:  
Stull  
Stull, Kansas, 1991. The local legend in Stull was that the cemetery there was haunted. It was said that the ruins of the cemetery's old church was itself a gateway to hell. It was a known spot to the BPRD, though not closely monitored. There had been several disappearances in Stull that year, and even the FBI had a hard time figuring out what had happened. Then, the BPRD got involved and Hellboy was called in.  
  
Hellboy sat in the back of the Lincoln Town car, smoking a cigar and reading through the files and reports.  
"Hey, Liz," he said, "Check this out."  
"What is it?" She asked.  
"Even the Pope won't allow his plane to fly over Kansas. Says it's unholy land."  
"Looks decent enough to me," Liz said with a sigh as she looked out her window at the rural Kansas countryside. Another field assignment. It wasn't that she didn't like them, they were interesting for sure, but they really tired you out. So, she lit another cigarette. "So, what are we supposed to do here?"  
"You know 'check it out, make it safe type of thing.' Did the Bureau say anything about where we're supposed to stay?"  
"'Beau's Motel'."  
"Sounds cozy. HBO?"  
"No."  
"Pool?"  
"No."  
"Great," Hellboy said, rolling his eyes.  
"We're here to work, not screw around," Liz said, flicking an ash into the ashtray.  
"Yeah, I know, but there has to be something to make work easier."  
"This is a routine assignment that should be a cakewalk; work doesn't get any easier. We'll be in and out, a week max."  
"You don't know that," Hellboy said, shaking his cigar at her, "I've been on a lot more field trips than you have, and what seems like a picnic usually turns out to be a lot harder. I thought you'd have learned that by now."  
A grin spread across Hellboy's red leathery face. Even Liz let out a toothy smile--an uncommon occurrence with her.  
"Since you're driving me around, Elizabeth, get me a burger at the next place you see. Pronto." And Hellboy leaned back and fell asleep. 


	2. Beau's Motel

Hellboy's brow arched up as he looked at the seedy looking motel. There was only one rusty car in the lot, near the office, which he figured, was the owner's. The string of bungalows were a chipped and faded brown, with torn screen doors.  
"So, are there any good restaurants around here?" Liz asked with a smile.  
"Not for you folks," the old owner said.  
"Excuse me?"  
"You heard me. We don't like you people snooping around our town, especially from that 'Ghost Bureau' or whatever you call it."  
"How did you...?" Liz asked, furrowing her brow.  
"Us 'yokels' know more than you think, Ms. Sherman. Y'all need to mind your own business. Here's your room key," he said, sliding a key with a little wooden plank hanging on it. "Wally! Escort this woman and her 'fiance' to their room."  
A young boy of about 12 walked out from in back. Liz looked at him and he gave her a big toothy grin. She grinned back. The old man slapped the boy on the back of his head.  
"Now, get!"  
Liz and the boy walked out to the car.  
"So, you is folks from the Bureau?"  
"You got it, Wally. Now, don't mind my friend in the car, he's a big fella with sunburn," Liz said. She motioned for Hellboy to get out. He put his sunglasses on and stepped out, his hooves digging into the old crumbling asphalt. Wally stood in awe.  
"Howdy," Hellboy said.  
"H-Hi. I'm Wally," the boy said, "You're big."  
"Yeah, I know. I'm Hellboy. I'm still going to need your help with these bags. Think you can handle it?"  
"Yes, sir."  
"Good boy."  
Liz could see that Hellboy had already taken a liking to Wally. She watched as they picked up the bags and chatted on the way to the bungalow, with her following close behind.  
They got inside and set down the bags.  
"Thanks, Wally," Hellboy said and gave him a $5 bill.  
"Aw, thanks, mister!" he said and trotted out the door back to the office.  
Hellboy opened the dresser drawer, looking for a phone book. Instead, he found a Gideon Bible. He opened it up. There we no words on the pages. The whole book was blank.  
"Huh," he said, "Weird."  
"What?" Liz said from the bathroom where she was washing her face.  
"This whole Bible is blank."  
"That is weird.  
"Oh, well. Let's get a pizza and check out that cemetery," Hellboy said, picking up the phone. Liz was too hungry to object. 


	3. Recon

Hellboy stepped into the car, eating a slice of cold pizza, and holding a Ziploc bag of 3 more in his right hand.  
"What, you're not taking some beer with you?" Liz asked sarcastically.  
"I'm on the job, sweetums," he replied, winking at her. Liz let a little chuckle go. Hellboy smiled and took another bite. Liz looked at the map. "Well, the cemetery isn't on the map, but satellite photos confirm it exists. So, it should be about 15 miles down the road." "Hit it," Hellboy said through a mouthful of pizza, and they took off toward the cemetery.  
  
As they were driving down the old stretch of highway, Hellboy reached over and started pushing buttons on the AM/FM radio. "I doubt you'll get much out here. At least anything you like," said Liz. "Yeah, but you never know." He kept switching stations find nothing but static and bad country. "Wait a second," Hellboy said, his eyes widening. He turned the knob backwards frantically. "What? What is it?" Liz asked, concerned. "This!" Hellboy exclaimed, "Johnny Cash!" Liz just sighed and rolled her eyes. Hellboy hummed along, nodding his head and tapping his hooves. All of a sudden he stopped. Then, the radio turned into static. He reached and turned it off. "What's wrong?" Liz asked, turning to look at the bewildered Hellboy. "Bad mojo," he said, "and a lot of it." "We're only about a mile away from the cemetery," she said. "Yeah, I know." His right hand began to tingle. He was getting nervous. "I've got a hunch that this isn't going to be the cakewalk you thought it was, Liz." Her hands tensed on the steering wheel, and little tendrils of smoke curled up from under her fingers. "Take it easy," Hellboy said, patting her shoulder gently with his stone right hand. The smell of burnt plastic filled the car, and her hands relaxed. Liz rolled down the windows. The air felt heavy, and had an odd musty smell to it.  
They came upon the cemetery and saw the many headstones and the stone ruins of an old church. The shadows cast by the markers and the walls of the chapel were moving slightly - as if something was contained within them.  
"Liz," Hellboy said, "let's go back to the motel, and get some firepower."  
"Yeah," she said, staring at the shadows, "Yeah, good idea." 


	4. Reinforcements

"I'm sorry, but what you want, we can't give you," the voice on the other end of the phone said.  
"You're not hearing me," Liz said, "It's not like we want it, we actually need him."  
"Agent Sherman, I--"  
"Hold on," Liz said as she handed the phone to Hellboy.  
"Listen to me," Hellboy said in his deep bass voice, "You know who this is, and I am telling you to send Roger. It's not like we're telling you we want the goddamn Ghostbusters."  
"Roger is not available. Whatever you've stirred up there, you have to deal with."  
"What we've stirred up?'  
"Yes. Since you and Agent Sherman have arrived, our satellites can't get a clear picture of Stull, presumably due to the psychic disturbance. Use what you already have. Out." And the phone clicked off.  
"Prick." Hellboy said, and slapped the flip phone closed.  
"No luck?" Liz asked.  
"No luck. I swear, sometimes I wonder why I carry all these things," Hellboy said looking down at the pouches filled with runes, relics, and herbs. He looked over at Liz, who was sitting on the bed. "Well, put your gear on. It's show time."  
  
The sky was dark and overcast as they pulled up to the wrought iron gates of the cemetery. Hellboy could smell the faint fume of burning plastic over the rotten egg odor of the cemetery. He glanced over to Liz, and saw the little tendrils of smoke curling up from the steering wheel.  
"Hey," he said, putting his left hand on her shoulder. Her shirt was hot. "Relax. Cakewalk, right?"  
Liz took a deep breath. "Right," she said.  
Hellboy took his hand off of her shoulder and pulled the Samaritan from it's holster. He opened a canvas pouch from his belt and pulled out the enormous thumb-sized cartridges for it. The click of the bullet going into the chamber was reassuring. Every one he loaded, he got a little more courage. It's go time, he thought to himself. Hellboy holstered the gun, Liz shut the Lincoln off, and they both stepped out. Hellboy opened up the wide swinging gate, it's rusty hinges groaning. As soon as they stepped in, a low growl seemed to come from every direction. The air grew more humid the closer they got to the ruins of the old church. Hellboy unsnapped the Samaritan's holster. The growl got a little louder and the sky turned a dark red. Liz heard what sounded like the scuttling of feet in the grass. Out of the corners of their eyes, they could catch glimpses of little shadows, about the size of terriers, running from behind the gravestones.  
"What is that?" she asked.  
"Imps," Hellboy said, scowling. "That feeling when you're alone, in the dark, and you feel like you're being watched... that's them."  
Liz took a deep breath and squeezed the rosary in her vest pocket tightly. As they were walking past a tree, they saw an old man, about 60, wearing horn rimmed glasses, and the black pants and shirt and collar of a catholic priest. He turned toward them.  
"Hey, son. Got a light?" he asked, putting a Lucky into his mouth.  
"What are you doing here, sir?" Liz asked. The priest looked at Hellboy.  
"He's a ghost," Hellboy said. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "And call him 'father', Liz."  
The priest threw his hands up in the air. "Well?"  
"Yeah, I've got a light for you," Liz said and walked over. She put her thumb under his cigarette and lit it. "Now, father, why are you here?"  
"My name is Father Daniel Carter, and I'm here because I know why you're here. I'm going to help you," the old man took a drag off of his cigarette.  
"Hey, can I bum one?" asked Hellboy.  
"Sure," the priest said, and tossed him the pack. "Keep it, I've got another pack. Anyway, I died in '64, poisoned by the local wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He was an occultist, too. After I died, most of the town converted to Satanism. Without a shepherd, the flock stray from the meadow to be consumed."  
Hellboy nodded, puffing the cigarette. Liz decided to light up too.  
"So, when I was buried here, I became the next guardian of it. The previous priest of our church, Father Campbell, had been the guardian after he died. I relieved him of duty. I couldn't keep this ground hallowed. They were all too strong. But you're here now. That's why I'm going to help you. I'd like to be relieved of duty."  
"Let's do it to it, then," Hellboy said, and the three started back toward the church ruins. 


End file.
